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[Weaver]

I'd like to find an iPad app that will display the wireless LAN speed (of a chosen SSID) dynamically, without going to the Internet, so just the wireless LAN only. Any suggestions?

[health warning: I found one app (by Assia iirc) that annoyingly only works properly on an iPhone, I can't stand the horrid compatibility-mode display that you get on iPads in such a case.]

[Dray]

Sounds like Wifi Sweetspots? Excellent app.

[Weaver]

@Dray - Sounds about right, but I don't have an iPhone.

[d2d4j]

Hi

There is the samknows app, but I don't use many apps myself

Many thanks

John

[Weaver]

Yes, I tried the samknows app. Good for your retarded auntie Aggie, no detail at all, and looks at the Internet, so a fail on every count. It achieves what it wants to achieve, which is checking whether people's wireless LAN is inadequate compared with the Internet connection they have.

[roseway]

On my Android phone I use WiFi Analyzer, which displays nearly real time data and graphs.

[Weaver]

@Roseway - I have a Blackberry Z10 (runs QNX). This device can certainly run some Android apps, so I could take a look.

[Weaver]

The Wifi Sweetspots app would be fine if it it weren't for the fact that it is duff on an iPad.

[ejs]

Regarding the most installed WiFi Analyzer Android app (there are many clones with the same or similar name), I don't think it actually displays the wireless speed, neither the maximum speed supported by the AP, nor the current link speed.

Do you really want something that displays the wireless speed dynamically? It would vary depending on the signal strength, and be dependent on the capabilities of the iPad, which might be less than the AP. You wouldn't be able to display the current speed of an AP you're not connected to, you could only display the current wireless link speed that the iPad is getting on the wireless network that it is connected to.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Agreeing (I think?) with Ejs...

I think a typical speed test App would transfer a known quantity of data from a remote server, and measure the the taken.   The server being remote, the measurement also depends upon internet speed. Since the home router can't be relied on as a file transfer server,  I can see no way to genuinely test WiFi speed in isolation.  Am I missing something?

It may be possible for an App to show the current negotiated WiFi link speed, though I'm not sure there's any documented API to do so in iOS.  Even so, that is not necessarily the speed you will actually achieve, dropped packets and retransmissions may reduce throughout to significantly less than the negotiated speed.

I recommend a closer look at the Ofcom/Samknows App, I have found it quite useful.   It doesn't masure link speed, possibly because there is no practical way to do so.  This white paper describes what it does...

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/infrastructure/2015/downloads/whitepaper.pdf

[Weaver]

Basically the Sweetspots app does enough. I don't want or need measurements by sending traffic unless there's no other way of doing it. As I said before, the Ofcom thing is totally and utterly useless for me on multiple grounds: it has no detail at all and it makes test measurements of the Internet pipe, which is irrelevant as I want to get a maximum speed value over the wireless LAN only, which may have no internet connection.

I should perhaps not have used the word dynamic. Something that polls would be nice, would save me having to hit a button again and again in different locations.

I unfortunately don't know what the limitations of the iOS APIs are here.

[sevenlayermuddle]

As I said before, the Ofcom thing is totally and utterly useless for me on multiple grounds: it has no detail at all and it makes test measurements of the Internet pipe

My understanding is that it makes some measurements fro the Internet pipe, others from just pinging the router locally.  That is why I mentioned it.   But check the white paper.  Or ignore it, I'm not attempting to twist your arm.

Regarding what's possible in iOS, if an API is documented that is fine, dev's can use it in their Apps.   If they use undocumented APIs, even if the App works, and Apple find out during approval then the App will likely rejected.   Even if it is accepted, it could suddenly stop working at some future iOS version.   

From a brief glance earlier today, may be wrong, but I got the impression attempts to access the negotiated speed would fall into 'undocumented API' territory, or at least a grey area.    That may be why there is a shortage of Apps that do so.